Daylight Saving Time

Daylight saving time moves an hour of daylight from the mornings to the evenings, by shifting the clock forward by an hour from the traditional schedule during the spring, summer and early fall.

During daylight saving time, the sun reaches its peak at 1 pm instead of 12 pm, and the crack of dawn comes a little later. The idea is to have people up and about during the longer daylight hours, to save energy and increase productivity.

In 2005, Congress expanded daylight saving time, by shifting its start to the second Sunday in March and its end to the first Sunday in November.

In a related tradition, safety groups urge the public to replace the batteries in smoke detectors at each time change, to make it easy to remember to keep the devices functioning.

The policy began in Europe to conserve fuel during World War I. America adopted the idea from 1918 to 1919 and again in World War II, but left the option of time change up to state and local governments during peacetime. The resulting hodgepodge of local times was cleared up by Congress with the Uniform Time Act of 1966, which declared that daylight saving time be observed from the last Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October, though exemptions were allowed.

Supporters of the idea say it also reduces traffic accidents and crime. Many people simply relish the long daylit evenings it makes possible. But some Americans oppose the policy.

Many farmers feel it forces them to change their schedule — which often depends more on sunrise and sunsets then the clock — to accommodate the people they do business with. Others feel it’s a jolt to the body to change its sleep clock twice a year, or causes needless confusion for a day as people figure out what time church starts and when their plane takes off.

Arizona, Hawaii, American Samoa, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands don’t officially observe the time change each year.

Then in 2005, Congress granted Americans a cosmic courtesy: a little extra sun.

In the Energy Policy Act of 2005, intended to strengthen the electricity grid and increase domestic fuel production, Congress inserted a section that moved the start of daylight saving time back to the second Sunday in March and the end to the first Sunday in November.

Before 2005, the last major amendment to the Uniform Time Act came in the mid-80s when the start of daylight time was moved back to the first Sunday in April.

Many countries around the world observe some form of “summer time,” but set their dates individually.

Highlights From the Archives

National Desk

The House approved broad energy legislation on Thursday that seeks to improve the reliability of the electrical grid, increase domestic energy production and save power by extending daylight saving time.

April 22, 2005usNews

National Desk

It might be 3 o'clock at the tiny Vevay Post Office, but across the street at Danner's Hardware it will only be 2 o'clock. If it is 8 p.m. in Lonna Dilts's living room, it will already be 9 p.m. in her bedroom.

January 31, 2001technologyNews

Foreign Desk

Interior Minister Natan Sharansky decreed today that ''summer time'' will be longer this year by 34 days. In a country where even the issue of daylight saving time is contentious, that was a provocative decision, playing into a long-running battle between secular Israelis and some religious Jews.

February 17, 2000worldNews

National Desk

President Reagan signed legislation today that moves up the start of daylight time to the first Sunday in April. Mr. Reagan also signed legislation that tightens certain aspects of Federal gun controls.

March 9, 2013, Saturday

When the rest of America springs forward Sunday morning, there might be some New Yorkers under the impression that they can doze for an extra hour and presumably still legally comply with court deadlines or other official proceedings.
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January 1, 2013, Tuesday

That's what keeps going through my mind, even days later: how the baby would have gone first. If the firefighters had arrived later, maybe the rest of us would have been fine, but Luka would have died in his sleep.